I am extremely lucky; one of my best friends in the entire world is Megan Elizabeth Morris.

Megan is fucking awesome.

We met at a poly 101 meeting, where Pace and I were teaching the Usual Error material. In her check-in, Pace said, “I think Megan is hot.”

We’ve all been friends ever since.

Megan is someone you want on your team. She’s brilliant, witty, hilarious, gorgeous, silly. She has a huge presence. Her voice ranges from insanely cute and tiny to blow your mind opera singer big (she’s an actual opera singer). Her hair is curly, her eyes are bright, her smile infectious.

And she’s started a new business.

Why you want to work with Megan…

Megan helps me think outside the box. She reminds me to look for alternate solutions, helps me find alternate solutions.

When I brainstorm with her, I learn to brainstorm by myself more effectively. I ask myself, What might Megan do here? and then I can think more outside-the-box-ly.

She also taught me that it’s okay – indeed, fun and helpful – to write and color and highlight in books. Before I saw her do it, I never would have done it. Now, I scribble in the margins with abandon, highlight the juicy bits with glee. It makes my books more mine – and helps me learn. With her help, I’ve realized how visual I am, and can teach myself more effectively.

…especially on new projects.

I would particularly recommend Megan to you if you’re just getting started with a project or business. When we’re in that new and start-up phase, we tend to get fixated on one way (sometimes two) of doing things, and get really boxed in – but that can really fuck up your brand-new baby business!

If, however, you get some time with Megan, together you can make mad blueprints and color all over poster boards and brainstorm like wildfire, and get alternate ways of doing things that they can build into the foundation of your project or business, which will make you stronger, smarter, and more effective from the very beginning!

In my not-so-humble opinion, Megan doesn’t charge nearly what she’s worth. Brainstorming is incredibly underrated in general, and having someone help you brainstorm is *invaluable*. It’s an outside perspective, a look from a non-stuck, non-scary place that most people can’t get to on their own. In our conversations, I’ve gained ideas that will make me mad amounts of cash (wait and see; they’re coming!), as well as a fresh perspective that keeps me interested in and excited about what I do!

Knowing that all I have to do to get some awesome ideas when I’m feeling stuck is throw some money Megan’s direction inspires me to keep going on those harder days. I don’t know of anyone else who does what she does, but even if a million people did it, she’d still be the best.

She even does it for free.

There’s a whole page of free ideas over on her site. She really gets it – she understands that you can’t sell ideas, so she doesn’t even try.

I really admire that about her. It shows an understanding of the way the world (and the internet) works that runs deep, like a gold streak in a riverbed.

So, imagine you get stuck.

You could go to the bookstore and buy a book, but then you have to make time to read it, and what if it’s written poorly or in a style you don’t get? You’d need another book! And then, the cycle starts over.

But what if you had help from a real live human? One with endless enthusiasm and boundless brilliance?

Megan! (: Her ideas are far more fun, entertaining, and interesting than anything you’ll ever find in any book, thought up by an intelligent, witty, clever woman with an exceptional mind, sharp perception, and the ability to see all 20 sides of a icosahedron at once (and who will color all 20 sides a different awesome color). She adds cohesion to a scattered mess, brings light to those dark times when your brain won’t think.

She can create blueprints that will illustrate what you’ve missed and show you new and exciting ways of doing what you haven’t.

That Idea Blueprint Girl

Last week, Megan launched her new business, That Idea Blueprint Girl.

When she started talking about it, I started dancing. I could barely sit still! Ever since she and I took our friendship into the business world and started collaborating, I’ve been dazzled by her and hoping she would do for others what she does for me – and get paid mad amounts of cash for it.

I recommend Megan to you – any of you – for any project under the sun. In fact, I excitedly and wholeheartedly recommend her to you even if you don’t even have a project yet, because that’s what an Idea Blueprint Girl is for!

I use eating out for three main things:

1) celebrating
2) rewards
3) financial security

We eat out to celebrate anything from getting a little return from our insurance to getting our blog in the top million. We eat out to celebrate with friends, family, or just us.

I get the desire to eat out to reward myself for various things, and most of the time when I ask, Pace consents. We usually go to my favorite places when this is the case, so it feels very rewarding indeed.

When I was little, my family went out to eat weekly or more, even after my parents got divorced. When I was out on my own, I often couldn’t afford to eat out. Then, when Pace and I got married, our financial situation improved drastically, and we started eating out a lot. This ingrained in me that financial security equals eating out a lot.

A few months ago, I started eating vastly healthier and far less in portions. This has led to internal dissonance – wanting to eat out for my three reasons, but not wanting to eat poorly or overeat. Even in Austin, it’s difficult to find places to eat that fit my strange food habits. And then, as our grocery bill climbs (healthy food is more expensive because that makes sense (sarcasm)), eating out becomes less and less attractive to our budget as well… but the three needs haven’t magically gone away for me.

Today, Megan and I were talking about this. She said she used to have the exact same three things, and she solved it brilliantly, and I will now regale you with the solutions.

1) celebrating
2) rewards
3) financial security

1) Celebrating can be done at home! We can celebrate by inviting friends over and cooking together – someone can bring something interesting to drink, someone can bring dessert, and we can make a meal to share. Sharing food with friends does not have to be done in a restaurant! In fact, I imagine that sharing food prepared by myself with friends would be even more rewarding and celebratory than sharing food in an outside atmosphere.

Oh! In fact, we can even celebrate without inviting friends over! We could have special meals we rarely have, light some candles, take time to discuss our celebratory intent, and really make it feel special and different!

2) Rewarding myself by eating food that actually makes me feel sick seems counter-productive. Megan suggested finding something I really enjoy that’s either a little too expensive or a little too sweet for regular consumption, and get that when I feel I’ve done something to deserve a reward. I think this is fucking brilliant.

3) As I mentioned, buying healthier food does wind up being more expensive. Why not take that expensive eating out and turn it into those healthier groceries? Having financial security provides us with good, healthy food that makes us feel good, food we want to eat and enjoy eating!

I am really looking forward to implementing these awesome ideas. We’ve already burned through our food budget for September, but starting October 1st, we’re going cold turkey (with three exceptions). We’re going to try eating in for 30 days, implement all the above ideas, and see how it goes!

I’m really excited about it!